


Project Blue Sky

by AeroStarry



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Aerith and Kairi are siblings, Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Childhood Trauma, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Half-mer Riku, Human Kairi, Medical Trauma, MerMay, MerMay 2020, Mermaid Sora, Merpeople, Multi, References to Depression, Sorikai - Freeform, more tags will be added/edited in the future
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:54:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24206251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AeroStarry/pseuds/AeroStarry
Summary: He can't ignore the call of Poseidon, though it strikes him with fear.She looks to the waves, to vanish into the blue.He sings like a siren, but his voice is lost to the storm.The tides are high, and the moon is bright. Breathe before the next dawn, and leap on into the night.Initialize Project Blue Sky?Y/N
Relationships: Aerith & Kairi (Kingdom Hearts), Aerith/Tifa (Kingdom Hearts), Kairi/Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Kudos: 23





	1. Horizon Point (Or, where the Sky meets the Sea)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! This fic will be undergoing a soft rewrite. Not too much will be changed story wise, just some details and improved writing will occur.

The sky, sea, and sand came together on each day and each night, meeting at the horizon point. The tides were active under the control of the full moon, and the sky did not shy away from the light. There wasn’t any trace of the ferocious storms that plagued the shores many hours earlier. There weren't any white clouds in the empty blue sky, no white boat sailing in the open blue sea, and there was nothing on the barren blue shore, nothing but a bobbing spot of red. It wasn't any spot of red either. It was the head of a very particular young girl.

The girl softly padded around on the beach. The only sounds she could hear was the roar of the tides, and the loud pitpat pitpat of her flip flops. 

Game night had wrapped up early, and the night left her feeling bored and restless. Since the waves were much calmer now, Kairi decided that she might as well take the opportunity to walk around the shore of the play island and pick up anything that might have washed up, and maybe even do some night surfing. She had slipped her board out of the house, and quickly headed down to the beach, eager to have the ocean all to herself. 

She took in a breath of salty air and sighed happily. The sky was bright and the moon was full. Looking out into the ocean was a delight for her, though she couldn't help but shiver from the wind when it picked up. 

  
  


Up by the top of a hill, a bunch of feet away, was the young girl's older sister. 

"Don't go too far out, Kairi!" She yelled. The cold wind wildly whipped her long brown hair around her wildly. She pulled her shawl around her body some more. 

"I won't!" Kairi yelled back. She knew better than to go too far or get near into the ocean. She left behind footprints in the sand everywhere she went, and occasionally bent over to pick up stray seashells that washed up by the shore. She walked far ahead and set down her board. She started to gather all kinds of shells into her shorts. It was dark, but some shells seemed to shine under the moonlight. A few of them were laid perfectly in a trail, almost as if someone else arranged them into a line. Kairi noticed this as she picked up more shells. Instead of picking more up, she decided to follow the trail, seeing where it would go. As she walked by each shell, they stopped their glow, and another would light up in front of her. On and on she walked, too distracted to hear the calls of her name from her sister. 

"KAIRI! WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!" her sister yelled. 

As she headed down though, her ears perked up but not because of her sister’s voice. She heard something else nearby. She looked around, until she stopped to look at the side of the beach with caves and sharp rocks that dotted the shoreline. She couldn’t help but stare. She knew a lot of cool things could be found on that side of the beach, but for some reason right now, she started to feel off. And then, her heart started to beat faster. Her muscles tightened, and her breathing was getting erratic. She constantly had to remind herself that she had a well-functioning pair of lungs. 

_ What is with me?  _ She thought, as she pressed her hand on her chest.  _ I feel so distressed all of a sudden. And it only gets worse when I look at that cliff. _

Even though she should have pulled away from whatever that was making her so unpleasant, it only added fuel to her curiosity. Something was there, something that made her feel so jittery. The distress that was still inside her quickly changed. She had a burning question inside that needed to be answered.

“KAIRI!” Her sister yelled again. She let out a loud sigh. “This girl…” She pressed her lips together, gathered her skirts, and ran after her runaway sister. 

Meanwhile, Kairi walked on and on, reaching a more rocky part of the shore, near the bottom of a nearby cliff. At the bottom was a large cave, surrounded by sharp, jagged rocks. Was there something there? Is that why she felt so off? 

She walked closer and closer to the cave, hopping on large rock to large rock, the shell path ending on one of them. Whatever the shells led her to, clearly someone was meant to come here. 

and her ears were suddenly tickled by a particular sound. It was almost like the cry of some sort of animal. She furrowed her brows together in confusion and walked faster.  _ What was that just now?  _

The sound grew louder. It started to sound not like not just random whale or dolphin noises, but more like a song. She'd never been in this part of the beach before. It was almost neatly hidden away near a nest of rocks from any and all human eyes. As she walked, the song got a little louder, until she heard coughing. 

"Um...hello?" She called. Was it a  _ person?  _

A very, very small voice answered her. 

"Aaaa….." followed by little clicks and chirps. They sounded strangled. 

"Wait! I'm coming!" Kairi hopped right up to the mouth of the cave. 

"Hello? Are you th-" 

She first saw a wide trail of red that started from the rocks, to the sand, all the way to a bundle wrapped in a mess of rope in the middle of the cave. She kneeled down and moved the rope around. When her hands divided the scratchy rope, she saw the shimmery tail. It was mainly a bright blue, with colorful spots of red and dark blue everywhere. But it was cut up and blood was rushing out. The next thing she immediately noticed was the nearby human hand and stomach, and a bare chest covered in sand and blood that rose and fell as much as it could, with an occasional sudden gasp for air. Kairi squinted for a moment, and then her eyes went wide.    
“ _ Is one of the bones poking out of his chest?!”  _

Then finally, her eyes traveled up to spiky brown hair that was stained with rust red, and closed eyes on a pained face. 

She felt like she was floating out of her body. She knew what she was seeing was real, but the rest of her senses had yet to register the reality. 

"H-Hello?" She said once more.   
  
There was no response.   
  
Her thoughts went into a frenzy.  _ Fish tail….human arms...blood everywhere...it has a face, Wait, no, not it...he? Face, arms, fishtail...m-mer- _

She gasped and covered her mouth. Her feet tried to take over, but all she could do was flail them uselessly. A  **_mermaid?_ **

Kairi looked them over, and she frowned deeply. He was barely moving, and barely made any sound, other than the moaning that he was making earlier.

_ Ok, just like they taught you in that first aid class…”  _ she put two fingers to the side of their neck, just under their jawline.  _ “Come on….come on please… _

Dread started to fill in her veins. Surely he still had to be alive, right? He had to be!

It seemed like an eternity. It had to be an eternity. Everything was eerily silent, even to the point where her heart wouldn’t dare make another pulse. She held in her breath.    
_ Please, be alive. Be alive. Please. _ _   
_ And then she felt it. She let out a sigh of relief. It was weak, but it was there, the sudden movement under their skin. 

Kairi studied the mermaid’s face. He had a slightly strong jawline, but very full cheeks, long lashes, smooth tanned skin with a little bit of a shimmer, a button nose, and their brown hair was an awkward state in between short and medium. He seemed to look about her age.

Regardless, She was glad that he was still alive, but he had to be in a lot of pain. He was covered in a lot of scratches. Some were clearly done by the rocks near the shore, but others were much...deeper, and the main source of all that lost blood. They were on the side of the right hip, and others were in the tail. The scratches looked like animal shaped scratches to her. Was the mermaid in some sort of fight? And what exactly was he fighting? 

As she kept looking, the mermaid gasped again, and his eyes were as wide as the sea, darting around, lips chittering and chirping in panic. Kairi yelped and almost fell backwards. Though the lights were definitely scared out of her, she moved closer again. Despite how much he moved around, the two of them locked eyes, and the squirming slowed. The girl stared in awe at their eyes, and she could swear that she saw the sky through them. They were a clear blue, perfect for the summer. They were the most brilliantly blue that she had ever seen. And when she eventually tore herself away from his gaze, it felt like a million years had passed. She looked at his wounds and winced.    
  


_ Right, _ She thought.  _ They’re injured! _ _   
_ _   
_ The first thing to do was to definitely untie them. She dug into her shorts and pulled out all kinds of things: her phone, her scout knife, some money, and a whole lot of seashells. 

She flipped her knife open and started cutting at the ropes. She heard the mermaid whimper, and she gave him a smile.

“Shh it’s okay, I’m not here to hurt you,” she said softly in a gentle tone. She could only hope that he didn’t bleed out completely. He had stopped squirming completely, which helped her immensely, but she still had lots of trouble getting them out as fast as she could.

Her knife wasn’t the sharpest thing in the world, and every knot she cut into felt like it was taking forever. What definitely didn’t help was that her hands were shaking heavily. 

“Come on...” she urgently told herself. “Come on....he needs my help....” 

She could feel the mermaid’s eyes on her as she cut them free. She then felt something cold touch her wrist and in a panic, her hand slipped and the knife cut her finger. She let out a yelp.    
_ “Ow OW OW!”  _ she thought, and shook her hand around. She looked to see that it was their hand, softly gripping her wrist. He was smiling softly, and whispering something, but Kairi couldn’t understand at all. She didn’t like how lethargic he looked. Just how much blood was lost? _   
_ _   
_ The mermaid stared at her cut. Kairi could only watch as he lifted her hand to his lips, and nipped at her hand with his teeth.    
She stared at him.  _ What the heck is he doing?! _

As he sucked on her cut, she felt a wave of warmth wash over her, and her skin tingled. It was similar to tingles one would get when listening to music. It was a good feeling that spawned right under the epidermis. She let out a giggle when she felt his tongue. _Is he licking my wound?_

 _  
_He let go, and let out a soft chirp, and then he put her hand back down.  
 _Ok,_ she thought. _That was-_ _  
_She looked down, and to her surprise, the cut was completely gone. _What?!_ She shook her head. _I’ll deal with that later. I have to get him to safety!_ _  
_“I’ve almost got you out,” she said. She picked up her knife and cut through the last parts of the rope. She let out a sigh when she was able to lift it away from him completely. She was glad to see that he was free, but he was still severely hurt. A 15 year old girl like her had little to no medical training. She looked around quickly. What was she supposed to do next? _  
_ _  
_ "I'll... I'll go get help!" She cried. She stumbled to her feet. 

Her heart beat wildly.  _ A...mermaid? A real life mermaid?! _

She could barely keep the panic in her throat. He looked so badly injured. 

_ Big sis….big sis would know what to do!  _

"AERITH! AEEEEEERITH! COME QUICK!" She couldn't hold back her tears as she stumbled over the rocks and ran all the way back. Her legs were on fire and her lungs wanted to turn inside out.

She ran all the way back to her older sister who was waiting near the start of the shoreline. She tapped her foot impatiently. "Kairi! What did I say about-"

"Someone's hurt! He…he's b-bleeding...s-sis-" and then, her anxiety reached the brink and she started to loudly cry.

Aerith acted fast and quickly took her hands and held her. "Hey...hey….Kairi….I need you to breathe. Ok? Breaaathe."

Kairi trembled in her arms. 

"He's g-gonna die…he's…" 

Her sister shook her head. "Just lead me to him, ok? I'll handle it."

Aerith didn't have to tell the young girl twice. Kairi ran back even faster than before. Her legs were on fire. Her sister followed close by, and they both reached the cave shortly. 

Now that she was more aware of her surroundings, Kairi couldn't help but gag when the metallic smell of blood slammed into her nostrils. She turned away while her body shook. 

Aerith sucked in a breath sharply. It was as bad as Kairi said. No,  _ worse.  _ And it was a  _ mermaid _ . Her co-workers would definitely want to know about this.

"He must have dashed onto the rocks…" she said softly. 

When she pulled out her phone, she dialed the first number that showed up in her contacts.

The pickup was almost immediate. 

"...Hello?"

"Tifa, how quickly can you get down to the play island?" Aerith's voice shook.

"Huh? In like...20 minutes...why?" 

"It's an emergency. You need to get to the side with all the rocks and cliffs. Please for the love of the gods  _ HURRY!" _

"AH! Alright, alright, you don't have to shout into the phone!” she cried.

"Bring all your medical supplies. And get Even and Dilan too!" 

"Huh? All my medical supplies?! Aerith, what’s going on?!" 

“Someone's badly injured and I think they got shredded by the rocks.”   
  
“I’m on my way!”

Aerith hung up, and went to examine the mermaid. She frowned deeply. She glanced between Kairi and him, and her heart dropped.  _ That could be someone's sibling,  _ she thought _.  _ She quickly got closer and the young mermaid looked up at her. A series of high pitched panicked noises flew out of his mouth. He used his arms to back up, while his eyes were darting everywhere, but one of his arms buckled under his weight and he fell on his back. 

"Ah! Please don't hurt yourself." Aerith said. She stopped her approach and smiled carefully. 

"It’s ok, we're here to help." 

"Yeah!" Kairi added. "We just want to help...um.." she fished out a seashell, and held it up. It softly glowed under the moon's light, radiating an icy blue. 

The mermaid's eyes lit up, and he carefully reached out at the shell with his good arm.

Kairi held it out to him and the two of their hands touched, both tenderly holding the shell. Her cheeks heated up a little bit when she felt how soft his fingers were, and let go slowly. 

He stared at the shell, his clicks and whistles were a little less distressed, and more fluid in their series of sounds. 

Kairi's smile grew. 

"I have more shells! Look!" She dumped them out on the ground, and they all went  _ clickity clack _ when hitting the floor. 

Interested by the noise, the mermaid chirped and clicked too, mimicking the sound. 

Kairi looked up in surprise. "Wow. You can make any type of noise, can you?" 

She picked two of them up and clacked them together. 

He tilted his head and repeated the noise with his mouth. 

Kairi giggled and clacked them again and made a little rhythmic beat out of it. 

Amused, he bopped his head and made accompanying clicks and clacks, until the two of them had a song going on. 

Aerith chuckled, and took off her shawl. She kneeled down and assessed the damage. He was bleeding the most in his tail, so she very carefully wrapped it around, applying enough pressure to hopefully at least slow the bleeding. 

The mermaid watched Aerith curiously, but then he went back to Kairi and chirped along with her shell sounds.

Bubbles of laughter erupted from the young girl, happy to know that he no longer looked so panicked.

Aerith pressed her lips together as she saw his chest.  _ "I can only hope and pray Tifa gets here in time.... _ "

But, she could at least do a very quick offering spell.

_ "Curses. I don't have my travel altar...But maybe a little bloodletting will do the trick..." _

"Kairi? Can I have a few shells please?"

The girl nodded and shoved her pile of shells towards her sister.

Aerith gave a nod in thanks, and arranged the shells in a circle. She started to whisper a few words under her breath. Then, she took one of the shells' sharper points, braced herself, and cut her palm open. She let out a soft swear, and drops of her blood dripped onto each shell. The shells glowed a very bright green instead of a blue, and she let out a sigh of relief. It wasn't much, but some healing energy was better than nothing.

The merboy looked at the shells curiously, then picked up a lot of chatter when he saw her cut herself.

"Sorry, I don't know what you're saying," Aerith said softly. " I’m going to use some of my energy to help you. I hope you know that you won't be hurt anymore..."

"Huh? Aerith? What did you..." Kairi stared at her wrist. "Oh! Um....but will it work? You don't have your tools..."

"I don't know, but hopefully it will be enough...It's an emergency after all..." Aerith had been practicing traditional witchcraft for the last two years, and she knew that it was always more effective with a well set up altar, but in a pinch, Aerith could use some of her blood. Blood contained enough energy to power a health blessing.

Some time passed before Aerith suddenly sensed something deep inside her. It was a feeling that caused her muscles to twitch. She looked up out of the cave, and then decided to rush out. They weren't alone any longer...

"Look after him, Kai!" Aerith called as she ran out.

She quickly hopped off the rocks, back to the sand, and rushed down the beach, closer and closer to a very familiar bike, and group of people. She first recognized the woman with long dark hair, black leather jacket and torn up jeans. Next to her was the much taller, darker skinned man with dreadlocks down to his knees, wrapped in a coat that hugged his frame, and boots that sand liked to cling to.

"Oh! Thank the spirits....Tifa! Dilan!" Aerith cried. She ran right up to them, huffing and puffing.

"I'm here. Even is too, but he's....coming? I think? I rang him like 20 times on my way here." The girl tossed back her hair. "I would have gone up to him and pulled his noodly ass out of whatever he was working on, but you made it sound like someone was dying or something, so I grabbed Dilan and got over here."

"Aerith?" Dilan said. "What's wrong? Tifa didn't specify."

"Just get over here...." She gestured to follow her as she ran back to the cave. "We got a bad situation...I couldn't say it over the phone, but Kairi found someone injured. I would have called 911 if they were, well...normal. This isn't normal circumstances we're dealing with."

"Wait..." Dilan said. He was keeping up with her, to the point where he was starting to outrun her. "You're meaning to tell me-"

"SHHHH!" Aerith said. She knew they were alone, but to her, one can never be too cautious. "We just have to get there...He's badly injured. He must have broken his ribs, one of his arms is completely banged up, and he's lost  _ a lot  _ of blood." 

Tifa joined them, lugging a giant red bag with a white cross on it. 

"I don't know if I have anything to carry him safely...so here's hoping Even gets down here.

"Kairi found him in this cave..." She nimbly once again hopped across rock after rock until she got to the patch of sand right under the mouth of the cave.

Tifa followed just as nimbly, while Dilan stumbled after them. "Oh shit, it had to be rocks," he grumbled.

"Please don't cut yourself open," Tifa groaned. "If I send you back to Ael all cut up, he won't let me hear the end of it."

"Yes, yes, I hear you," he said. His arms stretched out to balance himself, and he lept to the sand, thankfully in one piece.

"Good, now..." Aerith led them to the cave, and the two of them exchanged very surprised faces. 

Dilan blinked rapidly. "Is....Is this...."

"Holy shit!" Tifa exclaimed.

"Language, my sister is right there," Aerith said, and softly whacked Tifa's shoulder.

"Agh! Sorry, sorry..." She sheepishly grinned, and waved at Kairi. "Ok...I can patch that up...oh man, that's a broken rib alright. I'm not too sure about that bone poking out, but I can at least stop the bleeding and disinfect everything..."

  
  


She bent down to examine him.

The mermaid let out a nervous whine and shifted away as best as he could, but he didn’t get very far before he cried out in pain and held his head. 

Kairi held one of his hands, and gave him a nice big smile. "It's ok! They're going to help!"

He furrowed his eyebrows together, and whispered. “Mewaa..eeektuna, thaaaluum sekritara mauwitka.”

Kairi tilted her head back too, not sure as to what he's saying. "Umm....I'm sorry. All I can do is communicate with hands and smiles. But it will be ok..." She reaches out to stroke his back.

He flinched at first in fear, but sinks into her touch, purring and chirping.

"Thank you for keeping him calm, hun." Tifa said as she dumped everything out of her bag. "You're such a big help!"

She dug through her supplies, unfolded a large towel right under the merboy, and coaxed him into laying down. Both her and Dilan were at each of his sides. "Alright...let's take a look here." She applied rubber gloves and took out a small wipe, wet with disinfectant. "I'm sorry, but this is going to hurt." She pressed on some of his scratches.

The poor kid cried out, and gripped Kairi's hands. Their voice climbed higher and he looked right at Tifa, their eyes wide with terror. Their cries were interrupted with a round of harsh coughing.

"It's ok! It's ok...I'm here...I'm here!" Kairi exclaimed, and stroked their hair. To her surprise, instead of it being coarse and scratchy as she thought, it was soft to the touch. 

Tifa winced. “I’m sorry kiddo…” 

Dilan can't help but cringe as he cleaned his larger wounds. "Poor thing...It won't hurt for too long...It's going to be alright."

"How did he even get this injured?" Tifa wondered, looking over to Aerith.

Aerith shrugged. "Kairi just found them like this. I'm guessing that they must have ran into something out there, dashed onto the rocks, and crawled into this cave for safety..." She too stroked his hair and hummed softly to help calm them, the way she had done for her sister.

"It's a good thing you found him..." Dilan mused. "He's lost a lot of blood so far..."

Some more time passed and they bandaged them up. The gash in thier tail had stopped bleeding, and they cleaned the area around thier broken rib and put a compression. It wasn’t the most ideal treatment, but it was good for now. Tifa wrapped them up in the blanket, as well as Dilan's hoodie and very gently held them, so as to not disturb any of their bandages. 

They still held on to Kairi's arms, while looking at her with that curious pair of eyes. They looked at her up and down, and occasionally squeezed her hand.

Kairi couldn't help but blush a little under thier gaze. "Do I look nice?" she joked.

They gave her a friendly smile and replied, but once again it's a string of words and sounds that are foreign to her. 

She giggled when she saw thier cute smile. Their teeth were extra sharp, almost like a shark’s. 

"How would we even give a blood transfusion to him?" Dilan wondered. "Are their blood types like us?"

"I...have no idea. That both makes perfect sense and also makes no sense at all." She sighed, and took out her phone, dialing Even's number for the 22nd time.

"...You better have a good reason for why you blew up my notificati-"

"EVEN, I'VE BEEN TRYING TO CALL YOU FOR THE PAST HALF HOUR. WE GOT A BLEEDING FISHBOY AND I CAN'T EXACTLY HOIST HIM OVER MY SHOULDER WITHOUT HAVING HIM GO BELLY UP!"

"....Must you yell that much in the mobile?" Dilan groans.

Even sputtered. "Did....Did you just say-"

Said fish started loudly babbling to confirm that yes, there was indeed a mermaid.

"....Where are you."

"Fuscia Beach, by the rocks. Now hurry up before your clothes go out of sty-" She pressed her lips together and sighed. "Damned ratman hung up on me..."

"Well, he's coming," Dilan said. "So there's that."

"I think we all know that," Aerith said. "But we got to keep this one warm."

"That coat can keep him warm in below freezing weather, so he'll be fine." Dilan said, patting the boy's shoulder.

Kairi sat next to him, and showed him more shells.

"And this one is a conch shell!" She said, and handed it to him.

"Klori Sa," he said, while pointing at the shell.

"Uh...yeah, K-Klo...uh..."

"Klori Sa." he repeated, this time slower.

"Klori Sa?"

He smiled widely and clapped. "Ee! Klori Sa."

She beamed. "Hey, I got it! Hey, Hey Aerith," she tugged on Aerith's skirts. " I know how to say conch shell in his language."

Aerith smiled gently. "That's great, hon. You've done well keeping him calm so far."

"Of course! And uh....how long will it be until Even gets here?"

"Hopefully soon, if he doesn't want me to throttle him.." Tiha grumbled.

"I'll see if I can flag him down when he drives up here," Dilan said, and leaves the cave.

A few minutes later, the mermaid fell unconscious but was nestled safely in the back of a work van for Radiant Aquarium, as a blond man older than the rest of them with a messy bun and sweater looked over him carefully.

Aerith was behind the wheel, Tifa had gone ahead of them on her bike, while Dilan and Kairi sat in the back. Both of them watched as Even took care of his vitals.

"And you said you said you found him in that cave?" He asked, while hooking him up to an IV.

"Yeah. He was bleeding so much...I don't know if he's going to make it..." Dilan said. He gnaws on his bottom lip. "You sure you don't need any help?"

"As long as he's not flatlining on my watch, I'm sure I've got it," he grumbled. He looked him over, making sure his head had enough support.

"Hmm....This seems peculiar..." he mused while taking a look at his head. He parted his hair, to show that a steady stream of blood had welled up right from his head.

Even clicked his tongue in concern, and then decided to test the boy's reflexes, shining a light into his eyes. The eyes blinked suddenly from the light, but then dulled, showing no reaction.

The scientist pressed his lips together, and fished for something in his bag.

"Unfortunately, this is all I can do for now until we get to Radiant..." he said. He took out a syringe and a bottle.

"Wh-What are you doing to him?" Kairi asked. Her voice shook slightly.

"Putting him deeper under..." Even said matter of factly. He loaded the syringe, carefully perused for a vein, and injected him.

Dilan looked at his colleague in disbelief. "Where did you even get stuff like that?"

"Dil, darling, if I answered that question, I'd make you a dead man walking."

Dilan's eyes almost popped out of his skull. "And you think it's a good idea to inject him-"

"Relax. The upper anatomy of mermaids are almost exactly like our own, of course with a few changes in order to survive out in the oceans. And unfortunately, I don't have enough time to determine the possible effects of this or not. He's gone through a lot of head trauma, a lot of bleeding, and only god knows what else. With this, I can at least protect his brain from any more harm." He cleaned the head wound and wrapped it in bandages. "Thankfully, all I need is where we're going."

Aerith kept a tight grip on the steering wheel. "Don't worry, I got-"

With a loud bump, the van suddenly lurched forward, and all of Even's supplies were strewn about. Kairi yelped and hung on to the edges of her seat, but luckily her seat belt, along with Dilan's arm across her body, had her secure.

The older man next to her looked at her with nothing but worry in his violet pupils. "Are...Are you alright?! Is everyone alright?!"

"Shit! What the fuck..." Aerith swore, looking around out of the window for who had hit them. The car directly behind them swerved around them. Aerith angrily slammed on the horn, but the car speeded off, crossing into a busy highway up ahead. "Hey! Fucking hit and run...."

"Don't worry about that right now, just get to Radiant..." Even muttered. He looked over his patient again, hoping and praying he didn't sustain any more injury. When he knew the coast was clear, he let out the world's biggest breath.

"Thankfully, our guest is unharmed."

A collective sigh echoed throughout the van.

"And who's the belled who decided to rear end us?" Dilan said angrily.

"He ran off...." Aerith said, and floored the gas pedal.

Kairi yelps at the sudden increase of speed. "A-Aerith...."

Even sighed. "Aerith, I put you at the wheel because I trust you more than Tokyo Drift over there," he nodded towards Dilan. "Please don't make me regret that decision."

"I'll have you know, I am a perfectly capable and safe driver!" Dilan crossed his arms.

"And I was born yesterday," Even grumbled.

"We're almost there...." Aerith said softly.

Once they get to Radiant Aquarium's main building, Even placed the boy in a makeshift stretcher and is able to get him to a much more sustainable room.

Aerith sighed and yawned, then she pulled out her phone to check the time. "It’s this early already?! By Gaia's wounds...Kairi, We have to get home. Nana is going to kill me when we get back..."

Kairi shook slightly. B-But..."

"He's going to be alright..." her sister said. "I'm sure of it. But we have to get you home. Aren't you tired at all?"

Kairi shakes her head. "I'm not....please? Please can I see him? I really do want to know if he's alright...."

"Hmm....Ok, first thing tomorrow, alright? Even talked about some traumatic head injury....I'm hoping it's just a concussion...but it's possibly a little worse..." She sighed softly. "I'll light a candle for him on my altar. He's a child of the sea, so perhaps the spirits will take that into factor...."

She stretched her arms and yawned. "But we have to get home."

The younger girl looked away, absolutely crestfallen. "If we have to..." She looked at the door longingly.

_ Please let him be alright..he looked so scared, so alone when I found him. He must have parents or something! They're probably looking for him....I wish they knew that he's safe. _

"I promise: first thing tomorrow, we will come see him, ok? I'll take you once we wake up." Aerith said.

She looked up at Aerith with a small smile. "Ok." 

Dilan walked out of the facility, and saw the two of them. "Do you two need a lift?" he asked. 

Aerith nodded, and took Kairi's hand. As they walked off, Kairi suddenly remembered...

"Oh! The shells! I left them in the van-"

This earned a groan from her older sister. "AGH! Tomorrow..." 

As they left, Kairi shoved her hands into her pockets, and felt something cool and hard in her pocket. She took it out, and when she saw that she had a shell in her pocket, she smiled and held it close. Her thoughts filled with the strange fish boy that she met, his atmosphere eyes, his ocean tail, and his soft sandy skin.

“Come on, Kairi!” Aerith called. 

“Coming!” the girl exclaimed, and climbed into Dilan’s car. She looked out the window, in awe over the growing sunlight over the horizon. 


	2. No Light in Your Bright Blue Eyes

"Is it later yet?" Kairi asked her sister as Aerith was getting ready for work.    
Kairi could barely keep still, what with rocking her body back and forth, back and forth. 

It was a few weeks after the two had found the young mermaid boy in the cave by the sea. And ever since then, Kairi had been non stop poking and prodding at her for them to go and see him. He was all that the girl could talk about, to her, their grandma, and only spirits knew who else had Aerith not cautioned her about telling others about mermaids. They weren’t seen often for a reason after all, a reason that her and the rest of her colleagues were still trying to find. Even and Dilan had thrown out a few theories, some of them common like humans overfishing, pollution, or climate change. Others were more mystical. Perhaps they were being summoned somewhere else, or they were turning human or into seafoam en masse. Or according to Yuffie, they were being...abducted by aliens. 

Aerith couldn’t help but groan when she thought back to how Yuffie was certain that it was  _ aliens,  _ of all things, sucking up each mermaid and then diving far off into deep space. Sure, they were going to humor every idea, but definitely the more absurd ones came from the young intern.

  
  


Aerith chuckled as she watched her younger sister get so antsy. “Are you that excited to see your boyfriend?” she teased.

Kairi puffed up her tickled pink cheeks. “Aerith! It’s not like that!”

“Sure it isn’t. And yes, we can head over there. But most likely he’ll still be under. Last I heard…”

Even had reversed the coma that he had put the boy under, but he had yet to stay awake for more than a couple of minutes. Aerith knew that Kairi would want to spend lots of time with him, but she wasn’t exactly sure how much time she could actually spend with him before he went under again. And between him, Dilan, Aeleus, and Tifa, none of them could get him to stay awake. 

“So….he’s still asleep?” Kairi asked. Her voice shrank.

Aerith nodded glumly. “We can only treat him as best as we can. His broken bones are healed, we patched up all his lacerations, it's mainly his brain that we’re monitoring. It seems that he...didn’t just go through physical trauma.”

“What’s wrong?” she whispered. And when could he wake up? 

“Well, that’s what we’re trying to find out…” she said gently. She went and rubbed Kairi’s shoulder affectionately. “But he’s safe now.”

“So...I can’t come see him?” 

“I’ll ask the director about it,” she said. “It seems unlikely, but we’ll see if you can visit him.”

She sighed. “Yeah…”

A few more days passed, and there wasn’t much luck. He still wasn’t ready to see any new visitors. Kairi was disappointed, but not surprised. She just had to be patient and wait for the right time.

Until then, she would have to focus on her studies. 9th grade wasn’t going to complete itself, after all. But as she blew through lessons, she kept her wishes for the boy’s health afloat in her heart.

  
  


"And that's how salmon are able to adapt to freshwater from their saline environments." 

The teacher's voice droned on and on. Kairi could barely pay attention, even though they were delving into marine biology, by far one of her favorite subjects. Her mind however, was far off into the clouds. 

She doodled idly on the margins of her notebook; the papers were periodically disturbed by the blow of the rotating fan, but it was better than the stagnant heat that made its presence all throughout the school. 

"And I understand that the heat is distracting you all, and unfortunately I can only do so much with the fan," the teacher said. Then, he looked over at a spray bottle of water that he used for the whiteboard. 

"On second thought…" 

The students giggled as their teacher went by each and every one of them and sprayed their faces. Once the rotating fans hit them, they got a blast of cool, refreshing air. 

Meanwhile, Kairi slipped even farther into her daydreams. Though the classroom was clearly in front of her, all she could see was silvery bubbles floating to the top of the ocean of her imagination. She was right in the middle of said ocean, sinking deeper into the drink. There were no fish, only her and the impenetrable waves. 

_ Splish! _

She yelped very loudly and almost fell out of her seat when a blast of water hit her face. The shock immediately pulled her out of the imagination ocean. 

People around her tried unsuccessfully stifling their laughter.

"Ah! Miss Gainsborough! Back to our senses I see." The teacher said with a chuckle. 

She blinked rapidly, and then gave the teacher a sheepish smile. 

"S-Sorry…"

"No worries. Besides, I heard from maintenance that the school should have a working AC by next week."

The students sighed in relief. Ever since it broke, it made what was already dry season on the islands absolutely  _ unbearable. _ Aside from the rains here and there, it would be another month until they'd get the seasonal monsoons. 

"Anyways, like I was saying-" but his voice was soon drowned out by the sound of the bell, notifying the building that school was over. 

"4:30 already?" He scratched his head. "Huh. Anyways! Remember, Chapter 11 is due Wednesday. Have a good weekend!" 

It didn't take long for the kids to basically leap out of their seats, chattering endlessly about going to the beach or the water park that just opened up. 

Kairi quietly shoved all her things in her backpack, focusing on gathering everything quickly. If she can get through the cleanup session, then she can sprint back home and her sister would take the two of them to see if they could visit that boy...

She zipped it all up, but pulled too hard on her zipper, and her zipper charm snapped clean off its chain. 

"Aw…" she frowned. Little Nemo the clownfish was one of her favorites. "Here's hoping I can get a better chain for it…" 

"You sure took a tumble, didn't you?" 

Kairi turned towards the voice and smiled. 

"Hey, Selphie."

Her best friend stands by her desk, waiting patiently for Kairi to finish up. 

"Yeesh...if this heat can affect  _ you _ of all people, they better hurry up with the AC fix…" 

Kairi nods. The two of them walked out of the classroom to get cleaning supplies. As Selphie chatted about the dry season, once again Kairi's mind had swum off. She idly looked out the hallway windows. Her imagination bubbled up around her once more, appearing as the waves down below. The school was Atlantis, a world away from the surfa-

"Kairi? HELLOOOOO?" Selphie nudged her.

"Ah! Huh?! Oh…" she sheepishly smiled once again. "Sorry…." 

Selphie put a hand on her hip and squinted at her. "Are you ok? Like, seriously?" 

Kairi waved her hand casually. "I'm fine, I'm just...antsy." 

"Antsy?"

She nodded as they got to the supply closet. Selphie handed her a broom and dustpan while she had a bunch of window cleaning supplies.

"What are you antsy about?" Selphie asked curiously. 

"Well...today might be pretty special…" she said to her. "I'm volunteering at my sister's work again. She said there’s um...a lot of work I’m going to have to do."

"Oh! Right! That's tonight? Ah, I forgot…" she rubbed her head. “What are you doing for them anyways?”

Kairi bit on her lip for a split second. “They have a bunch of footage from their latest look at uh...brine pools. You know? Those super salty basins with like 10x the amount of seawater? They were looking at those and seeing how they worked and wanted to see if there were any fish that could survive it….” 

It wasn’t a full lie, arranging footage was in fact part of Kairi’s tasks today. Apparently messing around in Shindows Movie Maker years ago had its benefits after all, since it let her put together videos for their MoogTube channel. But as for her other reason for going to the facility today, that had to be omitted. Part of her felt bad, for not telling her best friend the whole truth. But she had to follow what Even and Aerith had said. It was for his safety after all. With mermaids suddenly disappearing over the past century, the info that one was being housed in a facility could be dangerous if it fell into the wrong hands.

  
  


The two of them went back to the classroom and helped the rest of the students clean up the classroom. Kairi sweeped away all the dust that had gathered from today. 

"Make sure you get every corner this time!" A different teacher called from the doorway. "I saw ants near the trash can." 

Kairi nodded, and swept everything neatly. 

"So does this mean you’ll get to go out and film your own stuff too soon?" Selphie asked. 

She shook her head. "Mmmmm...Kind of. I’m still too young to be a diver. They want everyone to be 16 for that.

"Oh, well here’s hoping, right?" Selphie replied. "It’s what you’ve wanted to do for so long.”

“Yeah! I gotta make sure I’m a really good diver…” 

A loud voice suddenly interjected. "Eh? What're you guys talking about?"

"Ah! Hey!" Kairi dropped her broom. Upon recognizing the voice, she turns to her other friend, Zack, and laughed. "You scared me!" She said, and sticks out her tongue. 

"You say that everytime I pop up, silly. So! Karaoke night, anyone?" 

"Vivi and I were talking about going," Selphie said. She goes over to the trash bin and takes out the very full bag. 

Kairi shook her head. "Sorry, I got plans with Aerith." 

"Ahh…" he put his hands behind his head casually. "Another time then?" 

"Of course, I can't wait to hear you shriek into the microphone and then break the damn thing like last time," she giggles. 

He crossed his arms dramatically. "I didn't break it! I blew out the mic. Totally different!"

"Suuuure." Selphie playfully punched his arm.

Twenty minutes later, cleanup was done. A bunch of students walked out of the school building slowly, as the sun wore down on their shoulders. 

Kairi sucked down the last of her water bottle before putting it back in her backpack.  _ "All I gotta do is get home and I won't have to deal with this heat…"  _ she said. She goes over to her bike and after unlocking it, she hopped on. 

Her mind wandered a little as she rode home. When she coasts down the hill of the school and onto the main road, the wind whipped past her hair

_ "I can't wait to see him... I wonder if he’ll recognize me? I sure hope so…” _

She got home and parked her bike, then entered the house.

"Nana, I'm home!" She called, and kicked off her loafers. "Is Aerith here yet?" 

"Not yet!" replied a voice from the stairs. Kairi's grandmother shuffled down and came to hug her.

"Darn…" Kairi said once she let go. "It's close to 7…" 

"Don't worry, she didn't forget you. You'd been bugging her all month about it, haven't you?" She laughed and went over to the kitchen.

Kairi followed after her, pouting all the way.

"I can't help it! I mean...finding a mermaid like him, after not seeing any for years and years? How could I not keep asking about him? And he was so hurt...I just want to see with my own eyes that he’s getting better. I don’t just want to be  _ told,  _ I want to see him."

_ Crash!  _

She jumped a little at the sound of something shattering, and then looked down. Her grandmother had dropped a plate onto the ground. 

"Aiya!" The woman exclaimed. "These old hands…" 

"Ah, don't worry, I got it!" Kairi went over to the broom closet and pulled out a broom.

"I was on sweeping duty for class today anyways." 

"The plate isn't all that I'm worried about," she said with a harumph. "More like what it entails…"

"Huh?" Kairi said nervously. Her grandmother once told her that the sudden breaking of a bad dish was a bad omen.

"C-Come on Nana...maybe it just slipped out of your hand."

"I can only hope that's all that it was…" she said softly. 

Kairi swept up the broken plate shards and dumped them in the trash. Her hands shook a little as she did. 

_ "It's just a superstition. Quit thinking so much about it…"  _ her brows furrowed. Sure, her sister’s witchcraft was one thing, and though Kairi herself was pretty neutral about the occult and supernatural, some other things she found to be a bit more unrealistic. 

Cheery music from her pocket rose out. Kairi fished her phone out of her pocket. 

Her face lit up in absolute joy once she saw who it was. She almost cracked the phone screen by the way she pressed accept. 

"AERITHPLEASETELLMEYOUREOUTSIDE!" 

"....hello to you too, Kai," her bubbly laughter rose out of the phone. "I'm outside. Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, I just have to-" she looked down quickly, and groaned. "I have to change…"

"Take your time. You have to look good for your  _ date _ tonight," she teased. 

Kairi could feel the heat rise to her cheeks. "H-Hey! It's not like tha...wait, can I see him? Can I really see him?!" She almost tripped up the stairs as she raced to her room at breakneck speed to change.   
  
“I said what I said, didn’t I?” Aerith can’t stop chuckling. “He’s awake, but we’re not sure how long it will be. But for the past two days, he has been constantly awake, so that’s a good pattern.”

A few minutes later, she closed the door shut, went over to Aerith's cruiser, and hopped in the passenger seat excitedly. 

"Mmmm, I'm not sure if you're excited or not," her older sister joked as she pulls out onto the road. 

"Haha," Kairi grumbled. 

  
  


10 minutes later, Kairi basically launched herself out of the car once Aerith parked by the facility. 

Radiant Science was a research facility on Destiny Islands dedicated mainly to marine biology and ocean exploration. Kairi had been volunteering there as much as she could the moment they started accepting teen volunteers a few days ago. 

“I have a lot of work to do,” Aerith said. “You’ll be fine by yourself, right? You have a map and everything?”

The girl nodded. “I’ll be ok!” 

Her sister smiled. “Great. That kid… he’s on the third floor, the furthest room. I’ll be in my office on the far right. And then, well, cell phones exist. See you in an hour!” And with that, she briskly walks off.

Kairi dug into her pockets and fished out a map that had been folded in all parts. The place was pretty huge. It had about 5 floors, and that was just the first building. It was connected to another building that was smaller, but was still massive. That area was their public aquarium. 

_ “I know I’m supposed to head first to one of the computer rooms and get all the footage but….I have to see him!” _

She races up the stairs and to the room that Aerith said. The lights got dimmer and dimmer as she walked down the long hallway. She passed room after room, until she finally got to the farthest door. Unlike all the other previous ones, this wasn’t marked, and it had not windows. If not for the scanner next to the handle, it looked like some ordinary closet.    
“ _ Maybe Aerith made a mistake? He couldn’t possibly be here….could he?” _

But it was the furthest room after all. She curiously pulled on the handle, and let out a frustrated huff when it wouldn’t give.  _ Locked… _

She had an ID card around her neck, maybe that would unlock it?   
She swiped and….

_ Access denied.  _ The letters showed up plain as day on the scanner. 

She let out another huff.    
“ _ Well, whatever is in there, I hope it isn’t him…” _

She turned back around to walk to a different room, when she heard a couple of footsteps get towards her. Around the corner was a much older man in a lab coat. His long blonde hair was tied back in a bun and he sipped coffee from a mug with the words ‘World’s Okayest Dad’ plastered right on them. 

Kairi knew exactly who it was. 

“Oh! Dr.Even!” She said. Maybe he’d be able to let her in?

He raised his eyebrows when he looked at her, and then downed the rest of his coffee. 

“Kairi? What are you doing here?”

“Oh! Well...um...you see, Aerith said um…She said the boy...he’s awake and I can go see him!” 

“Shhhh!” he said, and glared for a split second. 

Kairi couldn’t help but take a step back. Her brows knit together in anxiety. Had she done something wrong?

He studied her face, and then sighed. “Most likely Miss Gainsborough didn’t tell you...but not everyone here knows about...him. It’s why even in this building we just use the codename. Project Blue Sky.”

“Oh…” Kairi rubbed her arm awkwardly. “I’m sorry.”

“Please, try to remember this next time,” he said, and moved past her to unlock the door with his card. “And yes, he’s awake.” his voice lowered. 

_ “Man….that’s how top secret they’re keeping it? Not even everyone in the building knows?” _

It was exciting, being given top secret information like this, but also nerve wracking. Sure, she and Aerith did find him, but was there any other reason as to why they were allowed to know? She half expected them to wipe her memory or something. Maybe even if she were to say something, they wouldn't be believed? That or Aerith could definitely get fired…

“Well? Are you coming?” He said. He tapped his foot and stared at her as he held the door open.

She perked up and went inside. Her heart jumped around in its tiny space, thundering under her ribs. This was the first time in weeks that they would meet!

When she entered, she was hit immediately by the smell of slightly filtered seawater. The room was basically a giant aquarium, with a big tank near the middle, as well as several pools, connected by pipes large enough for someone to swim through. 

She looked around. Now where was he? 

Her ears perk at a sudden  _ thunk!  _ from the main tank. She turned around and squeed in excitement when she saw him. 

His colorful scales shimmered under the light, his tail was mainly a bright blue, with colorful spots of red and dark blue everywhere. He happily flicked his bright yellow fins and floated towards the front of the glass, pressing up against it. 

“Hi!” Kairi exclaims, and rubs her nose against the other side of the glass. “Hello! It’s good to see you!” 

He was looking much healthier than she last saw him. His skin was darker, his tail colors were brighter, and his hair was a little longer, and it flowed freely around his face. Kairi felt her heart leap out of her chest and dance around the room. He was a reef teeming with life.

“Hmm...I think he’s in a rather jaunty mood today,” Even mused, as he looked at him. And then, he actually let out a rare chuckle.

The fishboy stuck out his tongue playfully and swum down, seemingly disappearing into the floor. She heard a loud THUNK! before he reappeared in one of the pools. He let out a soft cry when he resurfaced, and rubbed his head.    
  
“Ah, careful!” Even scolded. “You aren’t out of the woods yet, you know…”

Concerned, she got closer. “Did you hit your head-”

And then he pressed his cheeks together and sprayed a jet of water at her.

"Hey!" She exclaimed when the water sprayed her, getting her face and shirt wet. She took several steps back. "Ugh, Haha, very funny!"

He let out a high pitched laughter, and shook water out of his spiky hair. 

Even’s eyes widened. “Now  _ that’s  _ new.”

“He must have really missed me too…” she said, more than happy that he had remembered her. Part of her was scared that he forgot all about the cave, including her.

He let out a series of chirps and clicks, looking up at her like she was a giant pearl.

She smiled and kneeled down by the pool fence. “I missed you too…” 

  
  


Even walked over and took out an inhaler from a small box on a table by the main tank. 

“Alright alright, now settle down…” He handed it to him. 

The mermaid grimaced, and let out a small whine, but this did nothing to sway the chilly academic. All Even did was offer it to him again. The mermaid let out a huff and took the inhaler, and then breathed in deeply. He coughed lightly, before gulping, and then handed the inhaler back before sinking to the bottom of the pool. 

Kairi watched the entire time. Her curiosity built up, and it compelled her to ask. “What’s up with that? Does he have asthma?”

“Sort of...He caught pneumonia days earlier, and though I was able to cure his symptoms, he still has some trouble breathing. It isn’t anything  _ too  _ out of the ordinary from what I’ve seen when I was a medical resident but still...I imagine there are sicknesses a mermaid could catch, ones that wouldn’t affect us.” 

He softly tapped the side of the pool. “And I know  _ someone  _ here isn’t a fan of this medicine, despite the fact that it helped him clear away all the fluid in his lungs.”

The mermaid rose up, and stuck his tongue out, which of course made his caretaker sigh.

Kairi let out another laugh. “Maybe he doesn’t understand us, but he understands sass.”

“While he can understand simple words and phrases , what I said certainly was not sass. It was a fact.”

“Maybe he doesn’t like the taste?”

“I don’t think I can do much to affect that,” he said, and popped out the canister of medicine. He gave it a shake and shrugged. “Hm, there’s two more doses…”

Kairi swirled her hand in the warm water while she looked at him. He had chubby cheeks that she would love to squish, and that calm smile of his made her heart skip a little. 

He swum closer to her, and his own hand went to hers, and slowly, one by one, they interlocked fingers. 

Kairi held his hand softly and gave it some friendly squeezes. It felt soft, very slippery, and just a little bit slimy, but she didn’t mind. If he wanted to hold her hand, he was more than allowed to. 

Her eyes went from their hands to his face, and he let out a nervous sounding giggle, right before averting his eyes. 

She giggled. Someone was nervous. It was definitely a cute nervous as well. 

“Well he’s definitely taken a fast liking to you, hasn’t he?” Even asked. “This is also the happiest I’ve seen him…”

“I guess he missed me?” she said, and she gestured for his other hand. He held it out to her, and she playfully swung them together. 

“Most definitely...Well, as long as this continues, I wouldn’t be too averse to you coming back..”

She perked up. “Really?” “ _ I can see him more? Oh this will be great...maybe I can help teach him our language, I can bring things in for him to look at, he probably has no one else to talk to, and with him being so happy like this, it could definitely speed up his recovery!” _

“Ah, don’t get too excited,” he warns. “That decision won’t be up to just me. The more people we involve in this project, the more we have to risk of course.” 

“Well yeah, that makes sense..” she said softly. “But I know I won’t cause any trouble. I just want him to get better as quickly as possible…”

“We all do, as well as use this chance as best as we can to learn more about beings like him.” he glances at the boy, who gives him a half-smile when their eyes meet. 

“Yeah...I’ve always wondered…” she said softly. “How are their lives while they’re deep in the ocean?”

She squeezes his hands, and he returns with a half-hearted squeeze. She looks up at him, and notices that his eyes are half lidded, and his smile is worn. 

“Uhh…?” She waves one of her hands in front of him. “Does he get tired that quickly?” 

This was very odd. He was so energetic literally minutes ago…

Even squinted, and got closer, looking him up and down. “No, I think there’s something more to it…” He said. He carefully took his chin, and examined him. 

The boy spoke up, but instead of fast syllables and a range of high pitched noises, these words were slow, monotone, and slurred together. 

Kairi looked rapidly between 

“This…” Even’s voice was tense. “Alright. Sora, can you  _ smile? _ ” he asked, and then pointed at his mouth. 

_ “So his name is Sora…? “ _

It fit him definitely, what with those sky blue eyes. 

But the most Sora could muster was pressing his lips together, before he frowned instead. And then, he yelped suddenly, and held his head. He let out a pain-filled moan, and his entire body shook. 

Kairi could only look back at him in alarm. “S-Sora?!”

“.....shit. Kairi, help me lift him up.”

“Huh?!” She leaped up to her feet in an instant. She was immediately next to him, and it was almost like her body was moving automatically. Something was definitely wrong with him, but what?!

“He’ll be fine in a few hours, but we have to act fast,” Even said. “He’s having a stroke.” 

“Oh my god!” Kairi yelled. Even held him up by his chest, his hands were tightly under his armpits, while Kairi kept his tail up, though she struggled to maintain a grip. His tail felt like it could slip out of her fingers at any point, and with adrenaline pumping through her veins, it made holding things all the more difficult. 

Even pulled them all to a side door on a far side of the room, and one they were in, it was a room that was basically a very small hospital, with all kinds of equipment, both tools and machines alike strewn everywhere. 

They get him on a gurney, where Even starts sounding off a bunch about his vitals, but Kairi was barely paying attention. Sounds are going in her ears and out another, and it felt like anxiety was spiriting away her air. She looked around. It was like the world was underwater, and she was drowning. She barely even noticed the sudden arrival of three other people until a warm set of hands went down on her shoulders and softly pushed her out of the room. 

Everything became a blur, a mix of panic and confusion, and she was right in the center of it. Her boat of stability was descending farther and farther into a whirlpool of chaos, until-

“Breathe…” A voice said to her encouragingly. 

The girl obediently breathed in and out, trying to once again ground herself. She looked up at the source of the voice, and a friendly pair of green eyes met hers. She started fleshing out more features. Curly brown hair. Pink hair ribbon.

“S-Sis…” Kairi breathed. She quickly looked around. They were outside in the hallway again. But when..? 

“Hey there cupcake,” Aerith said with a smile. “How do you feel? I bet it was distressing in there…”

“Where...oh! S-Sora!” she exclaimed. “Where...What happened-”

“He’ll be fine…” Aerith said softly, though she didn’t meet her eyes when she said so. “Everyone’s going to make sure that he’ll be alright. We’re not sure what exactly happened, but it is reversible.” 

“B-But...and th-then...he..” She furrowed her eyebrows when she tried to articulate what she had seen, but it was hard. It was like there was a brick wall in her brain. “Why can’t I...Ugh! Words are so stupid…” 

“I know…” Aerith said sympathetically. She rubbed her sister’s arm. “Let’s get you home, alright? It’s very very late…”

She let out a frustrated huff. Was this a normal response?  _ I mean, yes, it was terrifying. He went from being so happy to...well, that. It was all so fast, I could barely believe my eyes! And now all of sudden, I’m here, outside all the rooms? But when… _

It was as if she had teleported. Aerith softly nudged her to start walking, and the two of them went down the stairs, and out the door. As they walked out the buildings, she looked back at the facility, and towards the aquarium. 

_ Aquarium...wait...WAIT! _

“I forgot about the footage!” She cried. “I forgot! I was supposed to edit that video for...for the brine pools!” She smacked her forehead. How could she have forgotten?! 

“Don’t worry about that. I’ll come back tomorrow and send you all the files to your DripPackage, ok? You’ve had a long day today…”

She sighed. “I know but...I really was going to do it, and even though I didn’t have a deadline, I still wanted to get it done….” 

“Tomooooorrow.” Aerith said again, and led her into the car. “Tomorrow. I don’t want you to take on any more stress, especially after that…”

“Will….will he be alright?” Kairi said quietly. Her voice trembled slightly. 

“We’re going to do everything we can to help him,” her sister replied, as she led them to her car. “I’ll make an offering on my altar as well.”

She glumly nodded as she climbed in, and tightly gripped her seatbelt. Her thoughts drifted for a bit, until she found herself remembering what her grandmother had said about the broken plate. Could a broken plate really say all that much? 

_ “Never mind about that plate,”  _ she thought. “ _ He’s going to get better...I know it…” _

  
  



	3. Your Song Reminds me of Swimming

A few days later, after countless requests to come see him again, Kairi dashed up the stairs, and with a quick swipe of her card, she pulled the door to his room open. 

_“It can’t be that bad...It can’t be…”_ she kept telling herself, over and over for a week, both inside her head and on the way to the facility. _“He’s going to be ok….he has to…”_

She stepped inside, and her breathing was so ragged, she could hear it loud and clear. 

She looked around. Her eyes painstakingly focused on every pool and the tank. She stared longingly at the largest one, hoping that there would be a happy fishboy in there, with a smile that could shame the brightest stars. _“He should be here...safe and sound, splashing in the pool, being happy as a clam...but…”_

He wasn’t. 

She went to the door that led to the medbay, which she noted looked like a mix between a doctor’s office and a hospital room, what with the nearby cabinets and sink.

She stretched out all her fingers across her chest and silently begged her heart to slow itself. She looked to the right and the first thing she noticed was the amount of machines, all of them making various noises simultaneously. She also noticed that in place of the bed in the medbay, they had put him in a tank that was almost as big as her, with water tinted pink that was constantly filtered. Kairi frowned, and closed the door behind her. Next to him was Dilan, swabbing a part of his arm and then injecting something. 

Dilan heard the shut of the door and looked up as he pulled the needle out of his arm. He smiled politely when he met the girl’s eyes. 

“Kairi! Good to see you, lass,” he said slowly. 

“You too,” she said. She looked him over, and boy did he look exhausted. She could clearly see the dark circles on his drooping face, his wrinkled coat and how he swayed slightly, even while he was sitting. 

She pressed her lips together. “Um...Where is everyone else? And when was the last time you had rest?” she asked.

Dilan shrugged. “Everyone else is in a meeting, Yuffie and Ienzo are in cram school. I...uh, anyways. I’m assuming you’re here for…?” he gestured with his shoulder over towards Sora.

She nodded quickly, and got closer to the tank. She stood next to him, and frowned as she looked him over. The tank was just enough to fit him snugly. There were a few wires connected to his small body, out of his arm. The boy looked very much out of it, his eyes were dull and glassy, he tried to part his lips and speak, but barely anything but air came out. She reached into the tank and held one of his hands. His cold, webbed fingers curled slightly around hers, and he lolled his head around to look at her. It seemed like he was trying to give her some semblance of a smile, but all he could manage to do was somewhat stretch out his lips. 

Kairi smiled back, and kissed the back of his hand. “It’s ok,” she said. “It’s going to be ok. You’re going to be ok…” 

He weakly let out a chirp, and then his half smile quickly turned into a frown. Kairi could feel her heart plummet down to her feet. As she looked at him. She knew strokes were dangerous, but she never knew they could potentially cause _this_ much distress. She breathed in slowly, focusing on the air entering and exiting her lungs, and squeezed his hand. _“Don’t cry…”_ she told herself. _“Stay strong. Stay strong for him.”_

“He opened his eyes about a few days ago,” Dilan said softly. “Poor thing was very much out of it. But that stroke did more damage than we thought.”

Kairi started to tremble. “R-Really? How bad...How bad is it?”

Dilan sighed heavily. “Well, we did a few scans, and what we saw was...almost rapid regeneration in his brain. If this was a normal human we were dealing with, he would have serious trouble with his memory, forming speech, numbness, and partial paralysis. He does have some of those problems, his speech is a little slurry and movement is atypical. But when we looked, it was like we could actively watch his brain quickly repair itself.” He sat up.   
“I still can’t be-” he stopped to yawn. “...believe it! I mean, I’m sure it was simply an evolutionary trait but...it definitely feels like some sort of miracle took place.”

Kairi’s eyes widened, and her trembling stopped. “Y-You mean...he’s going to get better quickly?”

“We’re not sure how long this is going to last, but if he keeps progressing like this…” he mused. “But this does mean he has less energy to do other things, like keep awake for example.”

“Eh, you have a point,” she said. She looked at the fishboy and smiled. _“You’re doing great, Sora! I’m proud of you. Just hang on a little longer, and I’m sure you’ll be better in no time!”_

“He’s gonna be so hungry once he fully wakes up. We might have to rent out a sushi restaurant!”

“My sentiments exactly,” Dilan said with a chuckle. “He’s not our easiest patient, but I’m sure it’ll be worth the trouble soon.” He stroked his spiky brown hair. “Won’t it, lad?”

Sora blinked slowly as a response.

"How did this even happen?" Kairi asked. "What could have possibly caused a stroke?"

Dilan scratched his head. "I actually have no idea," he said. "It kind of just happened all so fast. You would have to ask Even. I think it was from the trauma his head went through. He may be healing from the stroke, but overall there's still some lingering damage."

She bit down on her lip nervously. 

"That's awful…." She said. "But he's going to get better, right? He just needs time. And by the way…” She drummed her fingernails on the side of the tank. “I do have a few questions. Um...Even called it, Project Blue Sky, this whole thing about Sora. I know you want to study him and stuff but what...what do you guys want to do with him?”

“Good question actually,” Dilan said, and glanced at one of the machines briefly. “Well, before, all we had about mermaids were things left behind in some of their homes, uncovered fossils or decorated artifacts. The Cetra people, the first settlers on the islands, were the ones that wrote down the most about them too. And up until now, they haven’t been seen around here for...oh goodness, perhaps 40 years? At least 20 years, definitely.” He furrowed his brows. “Or, maybe 50. I’ll have to ask Tifa. Anyways, we haven’t seen them. All up until... well, I’m sure you yourself know that.”

_“Up until I found him that day…”_ she thought. _“It was still so surreal. I followed a path of glowing shells, and there he was, a heavily injured mermaid who could only wail softly. I thought it was a dream. Never would I ever believe it if I wasn't the one who found him. And with how injured he was, why would I not help?”_ Ever since then, Sora lingered in her thoughts. She liked to doodle pictures on every page of her homework, pictures of a wild-haired mermaid swimming under the bubbly, fizzy waves, with big eyes that reflected the sky above him. She often had to explain away to others why she doodled mermaids so often in the margins of her notebook. 

_“Oh, they’re just really pretty,”_ she would say casually. 

To her, Sora was almost in his own category of pretty. He definitely had facial features that didn’t always surface in human boys his age. His skin was smooth and pearlescent like his scales, He had blue markings all over his arms and some on his cheeks, his eyelashes were long and thick. He had a very very small nose, and with the massive gills on his back, he probably didn’t even need his nose to breathe at all. It didn’t even have nostrils. Was it there just so he could look more human? Possibly. His blue-tipped hands were webbed, and there were tiny fins that jetted out from his forearms and biceps. A line of them went from his waist to the tip of his tail. And whether his hair was above or below water, it somehow always kept its spiky shape. 

Dilan continued. “And now the idea is to, well first and foremost, get him down the recovery process. Yuffie and Aerith drafted up a plan that is basically, if we can teach him our language, he can give us insight about his own life under the waves. Yuffie suggested that with him, we could even try establishing a relationship with other mermaids.” 

“That...sounds like a pretty cool idea,” Kairi said. “We could definitely find out where the mermaids have gone...unless...unless he’s like…” She fiddled with her shorts. “Like...the last one.”

Dilan chewed on his lip as he mulled it over. “I don’t think so. But we know so little of them, it could either be they’re endangered, or there’s a big mermaid kingdom so far down, that it’s hidden from any type of radar. And that ultimately is our goal to find out more about these mermaids."

"But you guys do know that he's a sentient creature like us, right?" Kairi asked. Her eyebrows knit together in worry. "I don't want him to be kept in here forever as if he were in a zoo or a circus. I don't want that at all."

"Of course not. If there comes to a day where he wishes to go, we'll respect that." 

She sighed in relief. That was definitely what she wanted to hear. She learned about moments in both science and history with unethical studies, and how often they occurred. And that was just among other humans.

"It's also why we have to keep all of this under wraps. I know that there are organizations out there who don't share the same views as us, the last thing any of us want is for him to get mistreated." His jaw was set, and the gaze that he gave off had a sharp edge to it. "If information about this project were to fall into the wrong hands, I cannot even imagine what we would have to face from others who would want to get their hands on him." Dilan shook his head and flipped through the sheets on his clipboard a dozen times or so. "But we don't need to worry about that."

Kairi nodded. "You're right. And….and I know I'm not as experienced as everyone else but I'm going to do my best to help you all however I can!"

"You're already helping us a bunch. Whenever you're around Sora, his mood goes up quite significantly. It's important to keep his mood up since he's so socially isolated right now."

Kairi's eyes lit up when she remembered something in a book about mermaids that was on her sister's desk. 

"Right, aren't mermaids in social pods all the time? Aren't they more dependent on socialization than us?"

"That's correct actually, and you can see it with him. When we first got him here, there was almost no light in his eyes, even when we stabilized all of his injuries and he started to heal. If you can find ways to keep him socially engaged, that will definitely be a big help."

Kairi nodded. That sounded like something that she could do relatively well. Even if there would be a language barrier most of the time, she could find lots of ways to interact with him and spend time. They could listen to music together, she could show him pictures of her home, she could even read him some picture books. Would he like that? She would have to find out later on.

  
  


"Me, you, Aerith, Even, Tifa, Ael, Yuffie, and Ienzo are all on board, and I can only expect that once we get more funding, more people could be brought on. Though I'm not sure if we need others. The more people we bring on, the harder it'll be to keep this all under wraps."

"It won't be like that forever, right? Eventually you'll have to come forward and publish your findings."

"You're right, and we've been discussing that. It might not be until we can protect the mermaid community, but when it does we'll be ready to publish reports."

She looked at the boy and gave his hand another soft squeeze, and frowned as she watched him. Dilan said he was healing rapidly, and she definitely believed him, but it was still distressing. It made him look like he was in the ICU, in critical care. 

He looked up at her slowly, and furrowed his brows when he saw her frown. He let out a trill, and then gave another half smile. 

The fact that he had almost no energy, but still wanted to grin for her, that definitely coaxed a smile out of her. 

“Don’t strain yourself too much, ok?” she whispered. “I want you to get better, so you can swim around and splash me however you’d like…”

She turned her attention back to Dilan, who was jotting things down on a clipboard. “So...now what?" she asked. 

“Now? Monitor his recovery. Unusual brain activity aside, it's still going to be some time until he gets back on his feet.”

Kairi glanced at him with her eyebrows raised. "Feet?" She asked. 

Dilan let out a huff. “I do believe you know exactly what I meant.”

“Suuuuuure I did,” she said, and grinned at him. 

He scoffed and shook his head. “Anyways, that’s the plan so far. Study and observe him, and then release him when he’s ready.”

Kairi nodded as she stroked his hair some more. “That sounds good. Is it hard keeping all of this secret?” 

Dilan shook his head. “Not really. Like I said, it helps having a small team with lots of facility resources like this.” He gestured around the room they were in. “That way, we can give him all the care he needs.” 

Kairi was about to open her mouth to say something else, until Sora spoke up, squeaking and clicking with his tongue. He definitely sounded just like a dolphin. She looked at him, her eyebrows raised. He was sitting up, and was flicking his fins. _“He must have had quite the burst of energy just now. Look at him, flitting about like this when earlier he could barely talk...”_ “What’s up?”

Sora looked at her, and then looked at Dilan. He chewed on his lip, and widened his already planet-sized eyes. 

Dilan chuckled. “You hungry, lad?” 

Sora, upon recognizing the word hungry, nodded slowly. He swished his tail back and forth, making a few waves in the tank.

“Alright, alright, I hear you. Settle down, so you don’t pull out any wires.” Dilan rose up. “Come with me, Kairi. We have a hungry guest on our hands.” 

“Huh? Oh, ok!” She too got up with him, and glanced at Sora. He was a little quieter, most definitely because he knew some food would be coming. She gave him a quick smile before following Dilan. He opened the door that led them out and held it so Kairi could go first. 

  
  


The two of them exited the medbay and back to the main room. Kairi looked around and noticed that the pools and main tank near the middle of the room were pristine, as if they had not been used before. 

“Thank goodness, he hasn’t been eating much recently. Everytime he announces he’s hungry it makes me less stressed. He’s gonna need a lot of energy, his body is basically working overtime to repair his brain.”

“He hasn’t been eating much?” Kairi repeated. “That doesn’t sound good at all. How often does he eat?”

“Once or twice per day, and he doesn’t finish his meals that often. We try to encourage him to eat more, but he’s often too tired. The last two days have been different however.”

“And as he’s healing more, he’ll want more food, I get it..”

“We’re trying to get him a different set up, maybe move him to one of the aquarium backrooms, that way he has plenty of space to swim in,” Dilan said. “It will also let us examine him further. This place was kind of hastily put together. It was all lingering equipment from the last time mermaids were studied. We know things like their basic anatomy, some abilities they have, and some migratory paths they go through. They tend to be very nomadic, and they frequent themselves in either tropic areas or wherever else the water is the warmest.” 

“That’s really interesting,” she said. She didn’t know they would go around and migrate. But then again, it did make sense, with how the ocean was. With a world just as big as it was on land, no, even bigger, she herself would find it hard to stay in one place for very long. But then she got a little bit worried. What if during a migration was when poor Sora got lost? It would almost be impossible for him to find his family if that were the case. 

“You heard about the volcanic activity near the Traverse archipelago, right?” Dilan asked. He went to a storage freezer and refrigerator that were hooked up by the door and pulled out several packages of frozen fish. He set them on top of the lid and walked to a nearby sink to turn the water on and let them defrost. As that was happening, he went to the fridge and pulled out newly thawed fresh fish packets.

“Eh, kind of?” Kairi said. “I know the basics, like the really big volcano that people are worried is going to erupt. It hasn’t erupted for thousands of years.” 

“Right, and some of the smaller ones have shown some activity,” He put his hands on his hips as he watched the water continuously stream onto the fish. “Which of course, is a natural part of our world, both forming new things for the ecosystem, and also destroying. Mount Saima has been constantly active for years, Mount Niban has been on and off for decades, but then there’s...Mount Santi. It’s one of the largest volcanoes in the world, and the last time it went off was about 130 years ago. When it did, the sound when it erupted was so loud, it could be heard all the way from here up to Insomnia city.”

Kairi raised her eyebrows. “ _That_ far north? That’s almost near the Arctic…”

Dilan put the fresh fish on a cutting board, and started slicing them up and taking out the bones. 

“Yes! It pumped out several tons of ash and wiped out a dozen or so islands, but brought forth new ones as well. It also set off a large earthquake and tsunami, and caused a big drop in temperature and a famine up north. It’s constantly monitored today, another eruption like that would affect everyone for miles and miles.”

“You...you don’t think it’ll ever go off again...right?” she asked. 

“I don’t know, I’m not particularly versed in that field at all. It seems likely, but it also seems likely it won’t. If it does, I imagine it will run out of magma and collapse in on itself. When that happens, it’ll be a caldera. It’s kind of like a sinkhole.”

She shivered. “Well, hopefully it won’t start anytime soon. I could only imagine the amount of damage it could do if it did in fact happen.”

“Well, it hasn’t erupted in a century and it most likely won’t now. And if it doesn’t, we have plenty of resources to effectively evacuate everyone. Shall we?” He walked back to the medbay. 

Kairi followed him, and the two of them went back, where a very hungry fishboy was waiting for them. 

He flicked his tail fins excitedly when he could smell the aroma of food. 

Kairi spotted a small table with a plate and chopsticks and pulled it up to his tank, and Dilan set the fish down on said plate.

Sora’s eyes grew big when he saw the fish so close to him. He looked up at Dilan, asking silent permission before he could eat. When Dilan nodded, Sora carefully took the chopsticks, but fingers shook a little, and he dropped one of them on the plate. He let out a low click and tried again, but he wasn’t holding them well. His fingers were too close to the tips and whenever he went to grab a piece of fish, it just slipped out of his grasp.

“Oh right,” Dilan said. “You’re of course still going to have trouble with those things,” he said. “I know it's not exactly what you’re used to, but...ah, Kairi, could you help the sealad out?”

Kairi frowned and sat next to the table. “Here,” she said, and held his hand. “Can I show you?”

Confused, Sora tilted his head. 

Kairi chuckled and softly pulled the chopsticks out of his hands. She held them correctly, between her index finger and her thumb, and then using her index and middle finger to grasp the second chopstick firmly. She went slow to make sure Sora could watch how she held them. And watch he did, like a ladybug obsessing over light. She gently picked up a piece of fish, and then playfully held it up to his face. When he went to bite at it, she pulled away at the last second and giggled. 

“Got you!” she said.

He flattened his ears, pressed his lips together and grumbled. 

“Aw, Sora, I’m only kidding.” She held out the fish again. “Here you go, and then I’ll let you try.” 

He pouted, and then went to eat the fish. He took the bite, chewed, and his eyes closed as he let himself relax into bliss. 

Kairi smiled softly. “You really like tuna, don’t you?” She pointed at the fish. “Tuna.”

“Tuuuna…?” he repeated. “Tuna.” 

She nodded. “Yeah! Tuna.” She handed him the chopsticks. “I know it’s going to be hard, but you can do it!”

He narrowed his eyes at the chopsticks, and slowly picked them up. 

Kairi and Dilan watched with bated breath. His movement was off, but they still wanted to give him enough agency for things like feeding himself.

His grip was a little bit better, but his fingers still shook. He very slowly gripped another piece of tuna, and held his hand out under the fish and shakily brought it to his lips, taking the whole piece in his mouth before quickly setting the chopsticks down, as he felt like he was going to drop them. 

“You did it!” Dilan said. “I know it was hard, but you’re getting the hang of it.” He gave Sora a big smile. 

Sora grinned and made happy chirps. He wasn’t too sure why they were so elated about him eating tuna, but most likely it was because he was just so tired earlier. 

“Wai, nery okklitari..okklitari... omeimi suuuru suu,” he said, and there was extra emphasis on his vowels. 

Kairi glanced at Dilan, and he just shrugged. “Language barrier is still up.”

Sora let out a frustrated huff. 

“Here,” Dilan got up and grabbed a clipboard from a nearby table, and it had a pen attached to it. He handed it to Sora. “Try this.”

Sora took the clipboard and scratched his head. Did they want him to write out what he said? That was going to be pretty difficult since it was a whole lot of characters that he knew they didn’t really know how to use. His language was set up to read these drawn out symbols as quickly as possible and not waste so much time, since they could be there at one point and then gone the next, washed away by a current or buried under sand. He wrote out a few characters, they would probably see them as very curly markings with a bunch of dots. He showed them what he wrote, and just how he expected, all the girl and older man could do was exchange confused looks. He swished his tail and tightly gripped his pencil. There had to be _some_ way he could get them to communicate properly! So, he drew himself this time, a face with a headful of spiky hair, holding a bunch of fish. Next to that drawing, he drew himself eating the fish, then, he glanced up at them. The girl was easy to draw, with her cute bob cut, her big eyes and natural smile. She looked over his clipboard, no doubt curious to see. Feeling a little shy, he backed up some. “Eenry, tlavi.” he said, and hopefully she could at least get from the context that he asked her to please wait. His eyes darted from her, to the older gentleman. Sora was pretty sure his name was _Dilin_ , but he wasn’t too sure. He sketched out his squarish face, and made sure to draw as much as his hair as he could. He had quite the head of well taken care of hair. He wondered if Dilin would let him braid it sometime.

When he was finished, he turned the clipboard around. 

Kairi giggled, and pointed right at the drawings. “That’s me, and then that’s Dilan, isn’t it?”   
  


Sora nodded. 

Dilan, finding this to be rather amusing, raised an eyebrow. “Frankly, I don’t see much of a resemblance.” 

“Haha,” she said, and playfully elbowed him. She looked back at the drawing. “Hm...So, I guess he knows that he has to get better in order to make us happy?” 

“Seems so,” he said. He held out his hands for the clipboard, and Sora gave it to him. Then he nudged the plate of fish a little closer to him. 

The mermaid blinked and went to go pick up the chopsticks again, hands still shaking like before. He dropped them, and once again he let out his frustration with a string of words and noises. 

“Hang on,” Dilan said. “Maybe, just maybe there’s some fork somewhere…” He got up. “Oh, I’ll be back, it won’t be too long.” He got up and shuffled out of the room

Kairi nodded. She turned to Sora. “Come on, I know you can do it…” She pointed at them and made an open shut gesture with her hand. “Do you want me to show you again?” 

He stared at her for two seconds before handing them back to her with a sheepish smile. 

She chuckled and used her thumb and index finger the same way like she did last time, and picked up a piece of tuna. “See?” She said. “It’s easy. It really is!” She once again held it up to his lips, and let out a laugh when his eyes glittered. He took the bite, and let out happy chirps. 

Then she set them back down. “I know you can do it, alright?” 

Sora narrowed his eyes at the chopsticks, and picked them up slowly. His hands shook, and he jolted a bit when Kairi gently placed her hands on his. 

She gave him a calm smile. “Careful, just like how I showed you.” 

This definitely got him to blush. They were pretty close together, and whatever she said, it sure sounded nice. Her voice could lull him to sleep easily. He put his other hand on his cheek, hoping that she wouldn’t see.

He let out a breath, and his shaking slowed a little. Surely with her help like this, he wouldn’t mess up, right? He managed to pick up the tuna, but he felt a sharp pain in his hand, causing him to yelp and pull back. 

“Ah! Are you ok?” Kairi asked. 

_“Was she asking me how I felt? I think so? Her words sounded like a question at the end…”_

He nodded, and rubbed his hand. He furrowed his eyebrows as his fingers went over the twitchy muscles. How long was he going to be like this? How long was he going to be stuck in this boring room, with all these machines, all these strange people coming and going, and then leaving him alone? Where were they going anyways? 

He sighed and looked out a small window not too far away. When was he going to leave? Back to...Back to…

He let out a little pained noise, and rubbed his head. Another headache… 

“Your head?” She whispered. What could she possibly do? She could quickly get Dilan, or someone else. She wasn’t sure where in the building the meeting was being held. She went and held him carefully, and rubbed his back. She could hear him make all sorts of distressed noises.   
“Shhh…” she said, and pressed kisses into his forehead. “It’s going to be alright, I’m here.” His breathing was erratic and he shook slightly in her arms, but he held on to her as much as he could. No doubt about it her clothes were getting wet, but she didn’t care. She just hoped that he’d get better. She looked around the room. There’s probably some type of medicine he could take, but she wasn’t too sure, until she spotted a bottle of ibuprofen under a cabinet. 

She mumbled out an apology as she pulled herself away from him, and went over to the counter, grabbing both the ibuprofen and filled a glass of water. 

“Here,” she said, and she pushed two pills and water in his face. He gripped them both tightly, but let out a few confused chirps.

“Ack, uhhh…” She quickly pointed at the pills, made a swallowing motion, and then pointed at the glass, making a drinking motion. 

He still wrinkled his forehead, but did what Kairi said. He put the pills in his mouth, and then quickly downed the water as he tasted a strong sense of bitterness. He swallowed without too much trouble, and then stuck his tongue out at Kairi. What the hell did she make him eat? It tasted worse than the other stuff that the blond man gave him! Wait, what was his name?

“Oh, don’t give me that look! It’s medicine. It will help you get better.” She stuck her tongue out at him.

He pouted, and opened his mouth to say something, but he knew she wouldn't be able to understand him. But, she was right. His headache started to fade away. But he still wanted to tell her how awful it tasted?

He pointed at the pill bottle, and then his tongue.  
“Nima.” 

Kairi tilted her head. “Nima?” _Was it a word for pills?_ She wondered. _But he also pointed at his tongue…_

“Um…” She went over and picked up the bottle, took out a pill, and held it up to him. 

He instinctively wrinkled his nose. “Nima.”

“Oh, um...hm.” She pointed at the fish. “What about… the tuna?” 

This got him to smile. “Tuna! Tuna eest...luma.” He pointed at her tongue, and then the fish. 

“Tuna is...good?” she guessed. 

He shrugged. He knew what the word good meant, and it wasn’t quite what luma meant.

“Ok, no? Uh, oh! It’s tasty, probably that or its salty, and then the pill tasted bad...so, bitter?”

“Bitter?” Sora repeated.

Kairi nodded. She pointed at the pill bottle, then her tongue, and then shook her head. “Bitter.”

“Nima, bitter. Ah.” He nodded. That’s what it meant in her tongue.

“Alright then, dima.” The word bounced around her brain for a bit, before settling right next to the other word she knew. She tapped his forehead. “How do you feel?”

“Eh?” He said. He touched his head. “Chu tama?”  
  


“Chu tama?” she repeated.

“Chu,” he said, and pointed at himself. And then he pointed at his head. “Tama.”

“Oh, I get it. Yeah, how is your head?”

He gave her a thumbs up, something he learned from Dilan. It was like it had never hurt in the first place.

She clapped her hands together. “That’s great!”

She heard the door swing open, and there was Dilan, with a lot of forks. “Sorry it took so long. I had to head to the aquarium’s cafe. Did anything happen?”

“Well, Sora had a really bad headache, but I gave him some tylenol and I think he’s ok now.”

“What?” Dilan went to his side, and looked at him up and down. “Shit…”

“He, he is fine, right?” Kairi asked. 

“One second,” Dilan said, and picked up a chart on another clipboard. It was a pain rating system, from 1 to 10, each number was represented by a face. “Sora,” he said, and then pointed at his head. “How did you feel?” 

Sora looked at the chart. Earlier, it was definitely painful. He had felt like it was the face over the yellow color, so he pointed to it, and then he pointed to the smiling face. He definitely felt much better!

“Hm, Distressing pain, but then it went to zero. It sounds like he’s fine, but I’m going to go ahead and...agh fiddlesticks, Even is much more suited for this…”

“Speaking of,” Kairi said. “How come you’re not in the meeting?” 

“It’s because someone always has to be here to watch him. We rotate when we have meetings like these.”

“Oh, that makes sense then…” She said. It also explained why Aerith was in such a hurry earlier to drop her off. “Do you know when the meeting will finish up?”

Dilan glanced at his wrist. “It should be ending soon, I think. It’s about 7:30.”

“Well, in the meantime...um..oh! I taught Sora the word bitter.”

Dilan smirked. “Did you now?”

Sora chirped happily. “Bitter!” he pointed at the tylenol. 

This got the older man to chuckle. “Well done then.” 

“Oh, ahhh…” Sora placed a hand on his chest. “Chu toki eest Sora.” 

“Your name is Sora,” she smiled. “I already know that!” 

Then, he pointed at her. “Nata toki eest?”

“Oh, um…” She pointed at herself. “Chu...Chu toki eest Kairi. My name is Kairi.”

“Kaiiriii.” He let out a bunch of trills and said her name again. “Kairi. Kairi!” He cheerfully whistled. Kairi was a pretty name. It meant something very specific, something that he definitely wanted to tell her. But first…

He pointed at Dilan. “Nata toki eest?”

“Dilan,” he said, and went over each vowel slowly.

_Oh, not Dilin, Dilaaan. I get it now,_ he thought. That one was a little harder. He wasn’t too sure what that one meant, but he knew he definitely recognized Kairi’s name in his tongue. He did his best to phonetically sound out what he thought Dilan’s name would be closest to, but it was close enough. Di meant strong. Or pungent. The first one definitely sounded better. The second part. Lan, it didn’t mean too much on its own...

He reached for the clipboard, and Kairi handed it to him, though he saw that she bit her lip and frowned for a second. _Why did she make that face? I’m ok..._

He looked at his hands. They too didn’t hurt like they did earlier, so he could only hope he was able to write...

First, He wrote the first part of Dilan’s name. He drew a flexed arm with big muscles. Then, he wrote Kairi’s name, and of course he couldn’t stop his face from heating up. _Agh. Of course a girl like her would have a name like that._ He bit his lip. How could he try explaining what her name meant? He really wanted to. He kept glancing at her. She was right by him, carefully watching his every move. Sora noted that her eyes were this brilliant purple, kind of like the sea snail shells he’d find, or some coral that glittered near his nest. 

His nest…  
He frowned deeply. And looked out the window. All he could see was the dark of the night. No doubt about it, his pod was worried sick about him, probably upturning every pile of sand, not resting until they would find him. But they’d never know. They’d never know that he was being kept inside a place with a bunch of two leggies. And as much as he didn’t mind befriending them...his family was out there. He whimpered softly and looked away. 

His ears perked up and he looked at Kairi. _Oh, is she sad too? She must have heard me whimper…_

“Are you alright?” She asked. She did indeed hear that whimper of his. _The poor thing is homesick…_

He nodded, hopefully the question she asked him was about how he was. He didn’t want to worry her. He went back to what he was drawing. He drew a simple picture of the ocean, the same ocean that called to him during the night, the ocean that was once his home. He wasn’t cooped up in such a tiny place, he had the endless sea to swim in, with his pod, his pod-siblings and his paren-

His head throbbed a little again. He let out an annoyed huff and rubbed at his temples. Everytime he thought too much about his pod, his head would get all angry. Why? He had absolutely no idea. It frustrated him deeply. 

He went back to his drawing, and after drawing the sea, he drew a head, and drew sound waves coming out of the head’s mouth, just simple curves. Then, he turned the clipboard to face them. 

He pointed to his attempt at Dilan, which got the man to raise his eyebrows. 

“Huh, so I’m strong, eh? Well, not bad. I can see why as well.” He went ahead and flexed. 

Kairi snorted. “Alright then.”

“Kairi,” Sora said, and once again, he couldn’t help but smile when he said her name. She was lucky to have a name like that. He pointed to her name, and then pointed to the two pictures. 

Her eyes widened. Is that what her name meant in his language? It was similar to what it meant in their language. Kai, the first part was the ocean, a gathering point for the water of the world. Ri, village, countryside, family home.

And when he looked at what he drew..  
Ocean, most definitely. And for the second drawing, the sound of the ocean?

She pointed at the second drawing. “The voice of the ocean?”

“It seems so,” Dilan mused. 

_Oh, I should show her._ Sora thought. 

He pointed at the ocean, and then pointed at the window, and then made a wave motion with his hand. Then, he breathed in and out. This was going to be his first time singing in front of them. He didn’t have a specific song in mind, he decided to follow what his heart would tell him.

He started to sing. 

Kairi almost audibly gasped. _Sora’s voice…_ She thought in awe. It was otherworldly. It was magical. It was haunting. 

As she listened to him sing, she understood. She knew what he was trying to tell her. To him, this was what her name was. This was what _she_ was. 

A voice, not like any other. A voice that carried out the waves of the ocean, a voice that could touch the moon. When she felt something trickle down her cheeks, she pressed on them, and was surprised to find tears.

It wasn’t too long of a song, just something short. He stopped, and bashfully sank down into his tank, his head plunging underwater. 

“Ah, wait!” Kairi said. She wanted to hear more. She blinked rapidly, both in an attempt to clear away her tears, and to hopefully get his attention without tapping the glass. 

Dilan whistled lowly. “That...was amazing,” he said. His voice cracked a little. 

“I know..” Kairi said. Her chin quivered a bit. She definitely felt bewitched under his singing, even if it was only for a minute or so. Sora bobbed his head up, and gave Kairi a shy smile. 

The girl pressed a hand to her chest. Her smile was as warm as the summer. “I loved it, I really did,” she said. “Thank you for showing me.”

Sora let out a bunch of happy chirps and whistles. 

“I’m not surprised that he can sing,” Dilan said softly. “From the archival data that Tifa dug up, singing is very important to them. She and I have an ongoing theory that it’s not just how they communicate. It’s evolved into their most sacred art form, and it has been like that for hundreds of years.”

“Wow, really?” Kairi said in awe. 

“You betcha, missy. And when you go home later, that song of his is going to stick with you, won’t it?”

She pressed her hand to her heart again. She could feel her cheeks turn red when she played the song back in her mind. He was right about that. She’d go home and lie down, and once her mind carted off to slumber, it would be carried by the very voice of the ocean, the sea’s song.

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh man x.x I'm sorry for such a late update. Writer's block is such a bitch. When the next chapter comes, there's going to be a new student at Kairi's school, as well as much more Sora and Kairi bonding!


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